Ike Turner & The Kings Of Rhythm* – A Black Man's Soul

I myself would call this album a keeper, in other words YOU MUST ALWAYS HAVE AT LEAST ONE COPY IN YOUR COLLECTION.
Its like you are listening to a album of, a hit singles collection, of raw low down dirty funk, one copy is not enough, i need spares for backup, you need to be prepared for the worst because you may never tire of listening to this album,

I have no words to describe how difficult it was to realize how important was Ike Turner's Kings Of Rhythm band for the next generations of music artists. Not that I would doubt their potential, it's just because, for most of the people that felt in love with Tina Turner's music, it was very hard to accept Ike's dehumanized behavior as her husband and partner (he was known to beat her wife Tina Turner several times during their marriage and partnership).
Formed on the end fourties, Ike Turner's band Kings Of Rhythm got their place on the Rhythm & Blues history as well as Rock n' Roll for their brilliant releases, from their partnership with sax player Jackie Brenston and the release of "Rocket 88" under the name Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats (known as one of the very first Rock & Roll releases in 1951) to the fifties R&B hits and more than three decades of influential music, including the underrated album "A Black Man's Soul" from 1969. Even Jimmy Hendrix played on the band during the sixties, before being acclaimed as a solo artist.
Of course the "Kings Of Rhythm"'s musical talent cannot be condemned because of Ike's bad actions; even though, it's almost impossible to have as a hero a leader that would use psychological threats and physical violence on a regular basis, specially against his wife.
This kind of behavior Ike Turner had was deeply unfortunate, specially because it would affect the lifes and the careers of all those artists that were part of Ike's bands (and most specially Tina Turner, of course). Despite this fact that the journey of these talented musicians would be affected by Ike's form of leadership, the ensemble of their music became a standard not only for Rhythm & Blues and Rock n' Roll, but also Soul, Funk and even more recent genres of music (Hip Hop and Electronic Music included).
Undervalued LP "A Black Man's Soul" by Ike Turner's Kings Of Rhythm reached the level of a primar influence to all those genres for its rich content, specially for Marvin Holmes' dance hit cover "Funky Mule": its energetic, very intense and powerful opening drum solo by Mack Johnson would become a timeless Breakbeat standard.
As a result, "Funky Mule" breaks would be sampled and used on several kinds of music, from Hip Hop to the avant-garde Breakbeats of 4 Hero, Techno icon Luke Slater, and the Drum n' Bass artists Paradox, Senses, and JMJ & Flytronix duo, among other. "Funky Mule" was later included on important compilations such as 'DJ Pogo Presents The Breaks', 'B-Boy Anthems Volume Three' and 'Solid Steel Presents Hexstatic - Listen & Learn'.